The Drugs Order

Is it the correct time to administer the dmg The time is specified in the drug order and may be given a half hour before or after the stated time depending on the policy of the hospital or healthcare facility. How often a dmg is given is dependent on the half life of the dmg. A dmg s half life is the amount of time for of the dmg to be eliminated from the body. A dmg with a short half life must be administered more frequently than a dmg with a long half-life in order to maintain a therapeutic level of the dmg in plasma. 

Epinephrine itself does find some use in clinical medicine. The drug is used in order to increase blood pressure in cases of circulatory collapse, and to relax the bronchial muscle in acute asthma and in anaphylactic reactions. These activities follow directly from the agent s physiologic role. The biogenetic precursor of epinephrine, norepinephrine, has activity in its own right as a mediator of sympathetic nerve action. (An apocryphal story has it that the term nor is derived from a label seen on a bottle of a key primary amine in a laboratory in Germany N ohne... 

We hope it is clear from the outset that the syntheses outlined in this book represent only those published in the literature. In many cases this can be assumed to bear little relation to the processes used in actually producing the drugs on commer-citil scale. The latter are usually developed after it is certain the drug will be actually marketed. As in the case of all large-scale organic syntheses, they are changed from the bench-scale preparations in order to take into account such factors as economics and safety. Details of these are not usually readily available. 

The first-order rate constant for the decomposition of a certain drug at 25°C is 0.215 month1. 

Drug elimination may not be first order at high doses due to saturation of the capacity of the elimination processes. When this occurs, a reduction in the slope of the elimination curve is observed since elimination is governed by the relationship Vmax/(Km- -[conc]), where Vmax is the maximal rate of elimination, Km is the concentration at which the process runs at half maximal speed, and [cone] is the concentration of the drug. However, once the concentration falls below saturating levels first-order kinetics prevail. Once the saturating levels of drugs fall to ones eliminated via first-order kinetics, the half time can be measured from the linear portion of the In pt versus time relationship. Most elimination processes can be estimated by a one compartment model. This compartment can... 

There are instances where the observable kinetics of elimination clearly are not due to first-order exit from a single compartment. For example, a steep curve relating drug concentration and time may indicate a two-compart-ment system in which the drug exits in two phases, one fast... 

The conditioned place preference paradigm is widely used in order to measure the rewarding properties of drugs of abuse (secondary reinforcement). In general individuals are subsequently injected with either the drug or vehicle solution and placed into boxes with... 

First order kinetics describes the most common time course of drug elimination. The amount eliminated within a time-interval is proportionate to the drug concentration in the blood. 

If the drug is administered by a constant infusion rate (IR), the curve follows an unsteady function with zero-order kinetics (AClAt = const.) before the infusion is stopped (t < Tinfus) and first-order kinetics after cessation of infusion. Zero-order kinetics frequently can also be observed with diug absoiption where (KOabs = DR.) and (Tabs = Tinfus) hold true. 

Zero-order kinetics describe the time course of disappearance of drugs from the plasma, which do not follow an exponential pattern, but are initially linear (i.e. the drug is removed at a constant rate that is independent of its concentration in the plasma). This rare time course of elimination is most often caused by saturation of the elimination processes (e.g. a metabolizing enzyme), which occurs even at low drug concentrations. Ethanol or phenytoin are examples of drugs, which are eliminated in a time-dependent manner which follows a zero-order kinetic. 

It is important to question any order that is unclear. This includes unclear directions for the administration of the drug, illegible handwriting on the primary care provider s order sheet, or a drug dose that is higher or lower than the dosages given in approved references. 

Sngle order An order to administer the drug one time only. 

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